The present invention relates to an apparatus and method of making an air freshener and to an air freshener made of a coated pre-cast or sculpted salt (NACL) material.
Halite is a colorless or white material made up predominately of sodium chloride (NACL) which occurs in cubic crystals and is found in dried lake beds and arid climates and which is used as common table salt. Halite is sometimes called rock salt and has been mined in the historic mines in Poland. Translucent halite, as found in Poland, may have impurities therein which form various colors including orange, rose, and red built into the mineral structures of the crystals by the high concentration of natural trace elements, such as hematite, manganese, iodine, copper, iron and zinc. Halite has been mined in Poland for several hundred years and the mines are among the oldest mines in the world. The salts extracted from the mines have been sold worldwide as healing salts and many metaphysical properties have been claimed for the salt. It has been shown that when halite is heated, negative ions are produced within an enclosed room and in the area surrounding the heated halite crystal. It has also been shown that an ion atmosphere will reduce dust and the bacterial count in the air. Halite crystals have been used in the past for various types of salt sculptures and have also been used as lighted sculptures.
The present invention is directed towards an improvement in salt sculptures made of a crystalline halite which has been coated with a predetermined coating material to form a decorative sculpture which, when heated with an electric lamp or other heater, will reduce airborne microbiological agents in the room where the precast salt composite sculpture is being heated and freshens the air in a room.
Prior art air fresheners can be seen in the Gyulay U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,428, for a room air freshener which is in the form of a porous ceramic ring in combination with an upright positioned light bulb. The ring has a premeasuring cavity so that a fragrance generating liquid filling the cavity will be completely absorbed by the ceramic ring. The liquid will be vaporized when the ring is placed on a light bulb. The Spector U.S. Pat. No. 4,346,059, teaches an aroma generating lamp structure which has an electric bulb mounted on a base and enclosed by a shell which is partially translucent. The base has a bottle filled with a liquid scent mounted thereto and allows the liquid to be sprayed onto an absorbent pad where it is vaporized by the heat of the light bulb. The Cloud U.S. Pat. No. 2,757,278, combines an ozone lamp and vaporizer for producing ozone and vaporizing a chemical, such as triethylene glycol, for the control of odor, germs, and bacteria and in the vaporization of chemicals, such as hexachloride, for the control of insects. The Hasegawa et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,546, shows a cordless thermal vaporizer of a liquid in which the body of the vaporizer has a heater for heating a wick for drawing up a chemical solution from a bottle. The vaporizer attaches directly to an electrical outlet. The Hoyt et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,913, teaches an air freshening device which has an air freshener fluid container having a wick and has an outer closure support for the container using a pair of adjustable closure half shells. The Feit U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,905, shows a method and article for dispersing a volatile compound in an environment. The Pozzo U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,877, is an article for diffusing volatile substances, such as perfume. In the prior patent to Gebauer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,853, a solid contains a fragrance substance and/or disinfectant and at least one sublimable substance. When the solid is exposed to the environment, it releases a fragrance substance to act as a disinfectant.
The aim of the present invention is produce a decorative halite sculpture which when heated, such as by an electric lamp, lights the sculpture and freshens the surrounding air and reduces airborne microbiological agents. The coated halite material can be recoated after a period of use and the supporting base for the sculpture can have an additional trough for vaporizing additional disinfectant chemicals. It is also an aim to produce a solid cast cementuous object which can be used in freshening and purifying the air.